Steam vacuum-dredge



Unirse Sterns ,Partnr ritten.,

CHARLES WHITTIER, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

STEAM VACUUM-DREDGE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 235,601, dated December 14, 188C.

Application led October 18, 1880.

To all whom it may concern:

Be tknown that I, @Hannes Wnrr'rinn, of Boston, county of Suffolk, and State of Massachusetts, have invented a new and useful Improvem entin Steam Vacuum-Dredges, of which the following description, in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a specication.

This invention relates to steam vacuumdredges of the class represented in United States Patent No. 203,892, May 2l, 1878, and No. 226,661, April 20, 1880, to which reference may be had, and in an application of A. C. Whittiernow pending in the United States Patent Office, and tiled concurrently with this application.

In the class of dredge referred to it frequently happens, when the mouth ofthe draftpipe is thrust deeply into the material to be forced by atmospheric pressure upward through the said pipe into the vacuum-chamber, that the friction or adhesion, both externally and internally, between the draft-pipe and the earthy or other material into which it is forced is greater than can be overcome by only atmospheric pressure in the usual way, and consequently the dredge fails to operate and the material remains clogged in the pipe, the friction of the material against the outside ot' the pipe being at such time so great and the material so dense that atmospheric pressure is not sufficient to become effective on the material outside of the pipe to assist in forcing the core in the pipe upward and into the vacuum-chamber. To obviate such difficulty and secure a prompt elevation of the material through the draft-pipe into the chamber, no matter to what depth the draft-pipe may enter the material or what is the nature or character of the said material, Ihave made the draftpipe as acompound pipe, and I have herein shown it as composed of one pipe within another, a space being left between them to admit and direct to the lower end of the draftpipe and under the core of material in the said draft-pipe either air or water at a pressure of one or more atmospheres, the degree of pressure depending upon the class of material to be raised. The action of such pressure from above and outside the draft-pipe under the core instantly starts the core of material upward.

Figure 1 represents, in side elevation, a sufreceivin g chamber.

(No model.)

icient portion of a steam vacuum-chamber and its connected draft-pipe to show, in connection with the said patents and application, one practical embodiment of my invention, the draft-pipe in the said figure being par` tially broken out to show its construction, the iigure also showing a receiver for compressed air. Fig. 2 is an elevation of the cylinder alone, viewing it from the right of Fig. l; and Fig. 3 is a View of the mouth of my compound draft-pipe, showing the air or water space hetween its two walls.

The vacuum-cham ber a will be connected in any usual manner with proper steam and water supplies for the formation of a vacuum therein. rlhis chamber will preferably have trunnions l), by Y which to support it, as described in the aforesaid application ot' A. G. Whittier.

The door c to close the lower end ofthechamber air-tight is shown as moved by an arm, d, and secured by a lever-catch, e, as common in other vacuum-dredges.

The horizontal part f of the draft-pipe is made as a single pipe, and it, with a suitable bend or elbow, j", and the vertical pipe are substantially the same in function and purpose as the draft-pipe in the said Whittier application.

My invention is confined to the draft-pipe; and it consists in making that end of it which is to enter the soil or material as a compound or double pipe, or, in other words, so constructing that part of the pipe as to a'ord space for the admission of air or water in regulated quantities under the core of earthy material in the draft-pipe after the draft-pipe has been thrust down or buried in the material which. is to be raised by atmospheric pressure into the steam- This l have accomplished, as herein shown, by surrounding the usual pipe g of the draft-pipe with a piece of pipe, It, it extending from the lower end of the said pipe upward for a greater or less distance, preferably for a distance greater than the distance that the said pipe will ever-penetrate the material to be conveyed into the vacuumchamber. Between these two pipes I leave an air-space, i, it leading from the ring oreollar j, which joins the upper end of pipe h with pipe g, to the lower end of the draft-pipe, the said IOO two pipes being kept separated by suitable stay-bolts or rivets 7c at proper places. Near the upper end of the outer pipe, h, of this compound pipe, and intersecting the space t', is a cock, Z, having connected with its other end a flexible or other pipe, m, the outer or free end of which may be held either in the air or in the water, according as it is desired to admit air or water into the space t' when the cock Z is opened, to enable the air or water to pass under the core of earthy material in the said pipe to assist in raising the said earthy material up through the draftpipc into the vacuum-charnber.

In operation, the mouth of the compound draft-pipe will be sunk or depressed in the earthy material to be raised by atmospheric pressure, and just as the draft-pipe reaches its lowest position the cock Z will be opened to permit the effective operation on the material outside the lower end of the draft-pipe of that force due to atmospheric pressure, it being applied under and at the end of the core et' earthy material in the said draft-pipe to lift the said core in the said pipe into the vacuum-chamber.

When it is desired to increase the power of the apparatus and render it more rapid and efficient in operation I introduce into the space rair under a pressure greater than that of a single atmosphere. The air for this purpose may be taken from the receiver p, lled with compressed air, (or it may be with water under pressure,) and be conducted by the .ilexible pipe n into the cock Zbetween its plug and the pipe h, the said pipe n having a proper cock, r, to control the passage of air or water through it to the draft-pipe at'the proper time.

l am aware that 'it is not new to suspend from a boat by a chain a cylindrical boring apparatus, as described in United States Patent No. 188,369, the said cylinder having connected with it two flexible pipes, one of which is employed to conduct water to the mouth of the cylinder from a forcing-pump, while the other pipe, connected with the upper end of the cylinder, is attached to a suction-pump, which pumps from the center ot the cylinder the material loosened by the water forced from its lower end.

My apparatus herein described is Very different in construction and operation from that described in the Patent No. 188,369.

I claim- In a vacuum-dredge, the steam vacuumchamber and the connected compound draftpipe, adapted to be thrust by atmospheric pressure into the material to be lifted, the said draft-pipe being provided with a chamber or space to permit the action ot' pressure from above and outside the draft-pipe directly under the core of material in the said draftpipe, substantially as and for the purpose described.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specication in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

' r CHARLES WHITTIER. Witnesses:

G. W. GREGORY, BERNICE J. NoYEs. 

